Mario Batali's Shares His Favorite Parts Of Eataly's NYC Flagship

A lot's been said about Mario Batali's orange Crocs — pretty much everything. They've become more like the punchline to a joke than a choice in footwear, but when you favor a rubber neon clog over an unassuming sneaker, you're sort of inviting the commentary.

Chelsea Lupkin

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It's the Crocs you see first when Batali walks down the street. Even in Manhattan's bustling Flatiron neighborhood, home to his Eataly flagship, they're hard to miss. A quick glance up — uh huh, there's the ponytail — and to the side — yep, I see the scooter — confirms you're looking right at him: The chef who perfected, if not invented, the modern-day cooking show. The guy who's got a dozen cookbooks to his name and double the number of restaurants. And a partner of Eataly, New York's mecca of all things Italian. Since Batali brought the food hall stateside, he's grown the empire to five locations, with even more in the works … which brings us back to the Flatiron outpost. It's where we met Batali for an Eataly explainer, and before he got mobbed by fans, we learned all about the store's many stations, the insane amount of food they sell, and what he always puts in his cart.

Chelsea Lupkin

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For starters, you should know Eataly's just as hard to classify as it is to navigate: Its 50,000-square-feet are packed with six restaurants (including a rooftop space that changes seasonally and Manzo, a brand-new meat-centric spot with a glass-walled butcher room), four food counters, three cafes (one has Nutella flowing on tap), a marketplace with 22 distinct specialties, and a separate two-story wine shop. So food hall doesn't quite do it justice. It's more like a tiny Italian city in the middle of Manhattan, with a population to back it up: 15,000 people visit every day; 25,000 on any given Saturday or Sunday.

Batali's one of the thousands. He visits Eataly a handful of times each week, to meet friends, to check on the goods, to pick up some pantry staples. His favorites are the salted anchovies, the caviar, and — when it's in season — the puntarelle, a type of chicory you'll find come early spring. And that's just the grab-and-go stuff. When he's got time, Batali will sit down to a pizza or scampi.

Chelsea Lupkin

If Eataly is a tiny Italian city, though, it's its bakers, butchers, and specialty chefs that keep it running. They're the ones responsible for churning out the grub that draws people back day after day. Take the bakery, for example. The focaccia case there is impossible to miss — unless you're the sucker that arrives after the morning rush when it's been cleaned out by hungry early birds. In total, the bakers sell up to 2,500 loaves and slices every day, including that famous focaccia (which comes in almost a dozen different varieties), plus breadsticks and ciabatta.

Every other restaurant and counter has an equally impressive number to boast: 400 pizzas are sold every day, and 5,000 pounds of pasta go out weekly. You'll curse yourself if you leave without trying the agnolotti del plin, a Piedmont specialty stuffed with veggies or meat. You can finish it off with a scoop of gelato, one of 9,800 sold every day.

Chelsea Lupkin

You should end at the cheese counter (it's traditionally European to finish a meal that way), and keep your eyes peeled for those orange Crocs by the mozzarella. It's made fresh daily — and Batali's favorite.